2010 Oscar Predictions

And its not a total crap shoot idea either. Last year, I ended up doing pretty well (save for all that Miracle at St. Anna stuff). I actually got 3 of 5 best actor nominees predicted, and rightfully predicted best actress (though my best supporting actor prediction - John Malkovich for Changeling - makes me ill).

- It could actually, well, look just like 2007, if the cards fall a very specific (and unlikely way). Imagine this scenario: A Coen brothers film (A Serious Man), a Jason Reitman film (Up In The Air) and a Joe Wright film (The Soloist) nominated for best picture; Daniel Day-Lewis (Nine), Johnny Depp (Public Enemies), and George Clooney (Up In The Air), and Viggo Mortensen (The Road) battle it out for best actor; Marion Cotillard (Nine or Public Enemies), Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Boat That Rocked) all among the other acting nominees...

-This could be a very good year for female directors: Kathryn Bigelow, Lone Scherfig, Mira Nair, Nancy Meyers, Jane Campion, Julie Taymor and Nora Ephron all have promising works out there. I'll wager this now: one of them will be a best director nominee. Which one, I really don't know.

-Matt Damon has THREE big performances (Green Zone, The Informant, Mandela), and is extremely overdue for a second acting nomination. I'd say the surest possible thing to say is that he will be nominated in some capacity.

-For the past six years, at least one acting nominee has come out of Sundance. This year Mo'Nique and Carey Mulligan seem like the odds on favourites to fulfill that history.

Anyway, here's my suggested five, winners in bold (all of which I'm sure will be wrong):